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Just got Ableton PUSH last night and having a blast. This thing is awesome and will fast become a favorite in my evolving creative process.

The only issue I have so far with Push is the pads. They are surprisingly firm (hurt-my-fingers hard) and the trigger sensitivity is not as controllable as I expected. If you press and hold USER, you can adjust both Pad Threshold and Velocity Curve (p.514 of the current Live 9 manual has graphs of the available curves). But I seem unable to dial in a setting that gives reliable triggering and broad dynamic range. Every setting I try has some issue, such as wildly jumping velocity (even when trying to play with consistent finger pressure), missed and double triggering, and/or sore fingers from having to bang the pads hard. It is not unique to one instrument type; I've auditioned drums, bass, synth, bells, pads, etc. I even switched over to my Fatar weighted 88-key controller for a sanity check. The playability of the same instrument devices using my Fatar controller was significantly more reliable and generally more expressive.

My research suggests that Akai, who make the Push, have a reputation for making the least sensitive/responsive pads. By comparison, I've demoed Maschine MkII a couple times, and it seemed to have extremely comfortable jelly-like pads, very expressive and reliable triggering, and an easily controllable and broad dynamic range. But I love creating with Ableton Live, and I want to use Push for maximum integration. Other than the tricky pads, I'm really singing Push's praises. Maybe I just need to adjust to the pads? Or perhaps my unit is faulty?

Anyone else with first-hand impressions or suggestions regarding the playability of the Push pads?

When i got my maschine mk1 i had similair issues with pad sensitivity and double triggering. but after about a week or so of hammering away at the things they've broken in nicely. hopefully your units just still fresh and this isn't a design flaw

The pads on my push are extremely sensitive, have you tried putting the sensitivity down? I have mine on -15 and I just have to brush a pad to trigger it.

Interesting. When I set sensitivity to -15, I get lots of stuck pads. The lowest setting my unit seems to handle is -5. At any setting below -5, my playing starts causing pads I didn't even hit to trigger and get stuck.

every akai product w/ pads i've used had to be modded; that's basically the bottom line. i'd just wait a little while til people start selling mods for that unit specifically. alternately you can experiment with putting electrical tape under each pad, to fill the air gap that causes the problem.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Synthi Galore

Hello slutz. Long-time lurker, first post.

Just got Ableton PUSH last night and having a blast. This thing is awesome and will fast become a favorite in my evolving creative process.

The only issue I have so far with Push is the pads. They are surprisingly firm (hurt-my-fingers hard) and the trigger sensitivity is not as controllable as I expected. If you press and hold USER, you can adjust both Pad Threshold and Velocity Curve (p.514 of the current Live 9 manual has graphs of the available curves). But I seem unable to dial in a setting that gives reliable triggering and broad dynamic range. Every setting I try has some issue, such as wildly jumping velocity (even when trying to play with consistent finger pressure), missed and double triggering, and/or sore fingers from having to bang the pads hard. It is not unique to one instrument type; I've auditioned drums, bass, synth, bells, pads, etc. I even switched over to my Fatar weighted 88-key controller for a sanity check. The playability of the same instrument devices using my Fatar controller was significantly more reliable and generally more expressive.

My research suggests that Akai, who make the Push, have a reputation for making the least sensitive/responsive pads. By comparison, I've demoed Maschine MkII a couple times, and it seemed to have extremely comfortable jelly-like pads, very expressive and reliable triggering, and an easily controllable and broad dynamic range. But I love creating with Ableton Live, and I want to use Push for maximum integration. Other than the tricky pads, I'm really singing Push's praises. Maybe I just need to adjust to the pads? Or perhaps my unit is faulty?

Anyone else with first-hand impressions or suggestions regarding the playability of the Push pads?

My only experience with touch-sensitive pads is with the QuNeo and now the Push; I find the Push to be orders of magnitude better/more predictable/less flaky. I haven't had too much time to play with it yet, but I did find myself getting happily lost with it a couple of times, and I think it could be a perfectly workable instrument for me. That said, I prefer the familiar and expressive response of my Nord Stage as a controller (fantastic keybed), but the Push would work well enough for me if I wasn't bringing the Nord along. Similarly, if I'm very cramped (feeling creative on an airplane, for example), the QuNeo is great.

every akai product w/ pads i've used had to be modded; that's basically the bottom line. i'd just wait a little while til people start selling mods for that unit specifically. alternately you can experiment with putting electrical tape under each pad, to fill the air gap that causes the problem.

The pads in push are not like any other akai product I know of. You may be basing this on the MPC / MPK / Etc pads.

My user page in the Ableton web shop is still saying 8-12 weeks before delivery. Quite envious of those of you to get your hands on it already - the Sound on Sound and Sonic State reviews have stoked my GAS something chronic.

My user page in the Ableton web shop is still saying 8-12 weeks before delivery. Quite envious of those of you to get your hands on it already - the Sound on Sound and Sonic State reviews have stoked my GAS something chronic.

Me too, and I ordered on the 6th of March. They clearly favored the retailers.

I ordered mine about 2 hours after the ordering went live on the Ableton web shop and I received mine on March 28th. Just as an FYI.

There is not midi out but I think it works as midi over USB, so you can use something like MIDIox to control outboard gear I believe. I know for a fact you can control outboard gear if you run it through Ableton Live.

every akai product w/ pads i've used had to be modded; that's basically the bottom line. i'd just wait a little while til people start selling mods for that unit specifically. alternately you can experiment with putting electrical tape under each pad, to fill the air gap that causes the problem.

I have found this to be the case as well, although the pads on Push are supposed to be different but then again, it was still engineered by Akai and I'm hearing the same complaints about sensitivity of the pads with Push like the OP's post.

Me too, and I ordered on the 6th of March. They clearly favored the retailers.

I dunno, I ordered from Ableton, not on the first day, and have already received my Push. I understand that some people who pre-ordered from third-party retailers are still waiting. That said, the shipping time estimates gapped to the current long wait not long afterwards.

happy to hear that you guys are enjoying this thing, i've been drooling over it since it was announced. my plans for gear got a bit sidetracked, so it'll be a while before i upgrade, but it's nice to see the good reports.